Material Specification for Aviation Fuel Piping

www.sheltairaviation.com might be able to give you more detailed information. There are also safety concerns involved with aircraft refueling. The FAA has some regs, as does the agency involved building regulations, and don't forget the fire marshal. If you need more specifics than available from Sheltair, let me know. Good luck.

Thanks Bob, could not find much on the sheltairviation site, my concern is if galvanized piping is ok or is black steel piping better( no zinc oxide to worry about) brass may be ok but what about Cu oxides in fuel?

My personal opinion would be to use black steel pipe, and paint the exterior with a zinc-rich primer and acrylic or epoxy.

However, I would be interested in other opinions.

I do not have the answer at hand. But i do have a contact that will know. I'll be back.

Hello denis

Please advise your Location & Country, which you may easily do in your Member's Profile.

It will auto-update through all your Topics and Posts.

Location/Country is important, for your Question to be properly answered, because fire safety and other issues vary widely across jurisdictions/locations.

1. Are you in a seismic zone?
2. Are you in "Tornado Alley"?
3. Are you in a coastal area?
4. Do you experience hurricanes?
5. Do you experience floods?
6. Other unknown....Advise please....
   

You should see from the above, how important the Site location becomes.

Reply here, with

Kind Regards....

You could always ring the "new" Adelaide Airport in South Australia..................their opening was delayed 3+ months because the contractors used the wrong type of pipeline for the aircraft fuelling system.

Show me where the book says that I can't use garden hose.

In Australia we have various standards that are followed re pipelines:-

Australian & NZ Standard 2885-2007. Pipelines-Gas and Liquid Petroleum.

There are also API and AIP regulations re pipelines for petroleum base product

There are also standards relating to safety aspects e.g. static electricity, hot work processes............colour coding, flexible pipelines. valves, tanks,etc.

One thing I did forget to mention is that in the maritime Industry there are specific regulations laid down for pipework for diesel fuel installations, these were contained in the USL (Uniform Shipping Laws) Code and all states are in the process of changing over to the NSCV (National Standards for Commercial Vessels) and I believe that this is going to be under the umbrella of AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority)

As an example all rigid fuel lines must be seamless steel (low carbon) or heavy gauge copper, types of fittings, etc are also outlined..............flexible hoses have to be steel wire braided reinforced rubber hose with a synthetic rubber inner tube that is resistant to heat, vibration, petroleum based products and sea water.............they must comply to certain tests and all connections must be of specified types...................there are also stringent regulations regarding fuel tank materials, construction and safety...........and so the list goes on.

Hi Denis,

1) If you use the GLOBALSPEC toolbar, it can guide you to the appropriate specs for you location. Just like a google search, but better!

2) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!!! DO NOT NOT NOT FORGET YOUR GROUNDING (MAY CALL IT 'BONDING' IN YOUR LOCALE) STRAPS AND/OR CONNECTIONS TO THE REFUELED AIRFRAME!!!!!

Lt. Col Gary L. Barber, USAF (ret)

AMEN to the grounding issue.

FAA in the usa has a huge website with lots of bulletins that I believe can be downloaded on many subjects of aviation and airfield safety. Start at www.faa.gov.

I will check this site also.

Try checking this page:

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet

I searched using "fueling" as a topic and this is the list of circulars I got.

Happy hunting!

And make sure you bond and ground to avoid nasty surprises from stray currents!!!

I suggest you try Adelaide Airport. They had a delay in the opening of the new airport because the underground fuel lines did not meet some sort of stringent spec

Good morning denis, you don't say wether you're talking about ug or above ground piping, but in either case, I would suggest regardless of your decision to use either metal or plastic, when working on it, after it has had flammable fuel in it, to always ground it with wet cloths on either side of the work, such as a line break.

As for metal fittings, I would definitely try to find brass or some other non-sparking material, for the obvious reasons.

And as you probably already know, definitely provide a self-recoiling grounding cable to attach to the aircraft when fueling.

The fuel supplier may have guidelines on installations. It may also have requirements on installations that, not being met on any specific installation, would prevent them delivering to it for the safety of the user and the safety of the operative carrying out the delivery. It's worth a phone call.